Welcome back! Great to see a good turnout for the first practice of our 2-term season. Most of you know the plan but just in case, here is what we talked through this evening.
Our next concert is Saturday July 1st, and the centrepiece will be Haydn’s Creation, sung in German, accompanied by an orchestra of decent size. We intend to trim the oratorio down a bit by skipping some of the solo pieces and focusing on the choruses, while keeping the overall shape of the work. Additional pieces to bring the concert up to about 90 minutes of music will include Zadok the Priest and possibly other Coronation pieces, given that it will be a few weeks after the coronation of Charles III. [If anyone has any suggestions for pieces they would like to be considered, on any theme with orchestral accompaniment, please let me know.]
We will be sourcing Soprano, Tenor and Bass soloists and a conductor for the performance. So it will be the biggest production we have put on since pre-Covid days. Make sure you get it in your friends’ and families’ calendars asap.
Tonight we just took a quick look at the first two choruses, one of which is a tricky if short fugue, and a fun hack through Zadok. A good start to a few weeks of note learning. Thanks to Tricia Joshi for getting the scores in time for the first rehearsal against all odds.
Next week is sectionals – please make sure you are in touch so you know where to be.
There are various places you can go for practice tracks for the Creation – Cyberbass is one of the best free ones (thanks Siobhan). Choraline is another, but costs money. And if, like me, you haven’t sung this before, just get it on a playlist and listen to it often so the music starts to seep into your consciousness.
Enjoy that, thanks to all hosting the sectionals next week, and see you back at Christ Church on Tuesday 24th.